Just Another Day in Vietnam

Keith Nightingale’s accomplishments in both military and civilian life largely contribute to the excellence of Just Another Day in Vietnam as a memoir of unusual depth as well as breadth.Uniquely adopting a third-person omniscient point of view, Nightingale eschews the “I” of memoir in favor of multiple perspectives and a larger historical vision that afford equal time and weight to ally and enemy alike. Examples of the many perspectives based on real-life characters include: Hu, a VC “informant” whose false information led the Rangers straight into the jaws of a ferocious ambush; General Tanh, the COSVN commander; Major Nguyen Hiep, the 52d Ranger Commander; and Ranger POWs later returned by the North.Nightingale moreover offers the point of view of an American advisor to elite Vietnamese troops, a vital perspective regrettably underrepresented in the literature of Vietnam, including Burns’ documentary. Added to this are well-informed conjecture of enemy psychology; insight into the dedication and often misunderstood role of the elite Vietnamese Ranger forces; the intelligence acquired from debriefing captured Rangers, whose captors had told them that the entire battle had been a carefully staged attack planned by COSVN as part of a larger Total War strategy developed by the leadership of the North Vietnamese Army; and an eyewitness account by a gifted author who is a rare survivor of one of the most vicious—and heretofore forgotten—battles of the war.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments; Introduction; The Ground; The Initiation; The Beginning; The Interrogation; The Plan; Choices; The Ranger Battalion; The Commander; The Assembly; A Proper Regiment; The 175 Artillery Battery; The Mortar Gunners; Movement to Contact; The Pickup Zone; Airborne; The Movement; The Decision; Closure; Aid to Brothers; Division of Responsibility; The Black Lines; The Bug; Command Decision; The Spot; The Spooky; The Ambush; The Rain; The Fog; Reinforcement; Softly in the Night; The Plan; The Shoal of Fish; Fire Support; Infantry and Air; Air Strikes; Bomb Burst; Bien Hoa Control; Light; The VC Prisoner; The Ranger Prisoners; The Arc Light; The B-52 Strike—Air; The B-52 Strike—Ground; The Return; Reconstitution; The General Returns; To The Work